Friday, April 3, 2009

Tortillas and seeds.....

I've been trying to use some of our dried goods such as beans to make our budget stretch so we had bean tostadas the night before last. With just the two of us at home we usually have leftovers, but not always all of everything. So not having enough tostada shells required my being resourceful. I have lard and flour and salt, so I made tortillas! I'm a purist when it comes to some things so yes, I do use lard when the need arises, and tortillas just aren't the same without it. I used 2 cups flour, 2 T. lard, 1/2 t. salt and about 1/2 cup very warm water, or enough to make a kneadable dough. I kneaded the dough til it was soft and smooth, covered it and let it sit for a bit. Then I created 8 balls and flattened each then dipped each in flour and rolled them out as thin as I could. I cooked them in a very hot, dry skillet, turning quickly to keep them from burning. I kept them in a covered dish to keep warm until dinner. Yummy! You can make a dozen by using 3 cups flour, 3 T. lard or oil, 1/2-1 t. salt, and about 1 cup very warm water. No, I don't use baking powder in mine. I was taught by a gal from Nogales, Mexico how to make tortillas and she would never have thought of using it.Aren't these delightful looking seed packets? I love how fresh and wonderful the veggies and plants look on these! It gets my fingers itching to play in the soil, working through it to get all the junk and lumps out and mixing the good stuff in. Here in Wendover we have to add things to the soil such as peat moss, and manure because our dirt is so alkyline an tough. The results are worth the effort though as we can get some very tasty food out of our garden. I order from Vesey's as they have the best seeds I've found and their seeds are perfect for the shorter growing season in our neck of the woods in Oregon. I know, Wendover isn't in Oregon, but we plant some things here before heading to Oregon for the summer. I can come back to tomatoes, carrots, beets and so on here, ready to harvest. I will start plants here to take to Oregon so they have time to mature before leaving there to come back here. Can you tell I love to garden?